| Tuesday
- August 23, 2005 (Day 12) Bululu to Mburu |
"...it took me a good ten seconds to realize that she was staring right back at me with a 'stop mentally undressing me' look on her face." |
Featured high-res photo: Sunrise
over Muterere Sunrise over Muterere taken from the rock formation. I made this photo my desktop wallpaper - if you would like to do the same, follow the link to the high resolution version below. high resolution version of photo above |
The
still of the Ugandan morning was broken by the sound of Stephanie
yelling "Nick - get your ass out of bed!" I stumbled around the
room, dressing in whatever I could find and we were off to the rock
formation to watch the sunrise. We climbed as high as we could go
without exerting the newly recovered Stephanie and finally found a
plateau high above the planes of Muterere.
Then we sat in silence and watched the valley come alive. I think
it
is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We walked
back
in near silence, both thinking the same thing without having to say it
-
we were going to miss this place dearly.
We returned to Bululu where
breakfast was waiting for us along with almost everyone in the village
who had come to say good-bye. We ate quickly, loaded our bags
into the truck and after many hugs and tears, headed off to Kampala.
We stopped by the clinic on the way to get Betsy, Bonnie and
Marian tested for malaria - all three tests came back positive.
We are beginning to doubt their diagnoses - Paul explained that a
positive malaria test is an easy way for the clinics to make money
since it is so plausible in this area. Our wounded aboard, we
limped off to Kampala where we would meet the bus that would take us to
Lake Mburu and our two day safari.
I would love to tell you what the drive was like, but Tymberlee gave me some dramamine and the next thing I knew, we were in Kampala and Joy was asking Jared and I to help her carry back lunch for the group. I stumbled out of the bus and started following them. My approximate thoughts as we walked were "ok, walking...walking...why can't I walk in a straight line...must follow Joy...wait, that's not Joy -
crap, where did she g...oh
there she is...ok, continue walking...man this dramamine is good
st...oops, sorry sir, didn't mean to run into you..." - you get the
idea. All I'm saying is that I don't know why
people spend lots of money
and risk getting arrested for illegal narcotics when this perfectly
legal one seems to do the trick rather well. When we got to the
fast food restaurant from which we were ordering lunch, I saw a very
beautiful girl. Her skin looked like ebony - and she had the most
beautiful smile. I know all this because I was so out of it, I
stared without so much as an effort at subtlety and it took me a good
ten seconds to realize that she was staring right back at me with a
"stop mentally undressing me" look on her face. Somehow, I made
it back to the bus without dropping everyone's food - good thing, I
had the munchies :-)
Back in the bus, we continued our trip to Mburu - as far as I can tell, it's about a four minute drive from Kampala. They assured it was more like seven hours, but two dramamines and Stephanie's lap as a pillow makes it seem significantly shorter. I woke up to a guy with a gun standing outside our bus
asking lots of questions to
our driver - we had arrived at Lake Mburu National Park. It was
10:30pm and go figure, I was wide awake and full of energy! We
parked the bus and walked to our bungalows where there were actual
toilets! They weren't flush toilets - they were called "earth
toilets." That is to say, there was a little pot of dirt next to
the toilet with a small garden shovel and when you had finished seeing
the guy about the thing, you scooped some dirt into the toilet and
closed the lid. After ten days of squat pit latrines, this was
luxury! Not only did we have toilets, but each bungalow had a
little electrical light - we later found out that all the electricity
in the park was generated by solar panels - so cool! After
throwing our bags down, we walked back to the main deck where a
gorgeous dinner of roast beef and minestrone soup was waiting for us.
After dinner, we went back
to our bungalows and collapsed into our cots - unable to believe that
this
morning, we had woken up with some of the poorest friends we will ever
have.
 One last team photo in Bululu.. |
I would love to tell you what the drive was like, but Tymberlee gave me some dramamine and the next thing I knew, we were in Kampala and Joy was asking Jared and I to help her carry back lunch for the group. I stumbled out of the bus and started following them. My approximate thoughts as we walked were "ok, walking...walking...why can't I walk in a straight line...must follow Joy...wait, that's not Joy -
|
Lusoga
lesson
Endha
(End-ah): stomach
Encofweela (En-coh-fwee-lah): hat Engaito (En-guy-toe): shoes |
Featured Dish: Aiva The last dish I want to
tell you about was the group's favorite - aiva (Ay-vah). It is a
dish made by boiling cabbage in tomato sauce and adding a few
vegetables and salt.
It was always the empty dish!!
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Back in the bus, we continued our trip to Mburu - as far as I can tell, it's about a four minute drive from Kampala. They assured it was more like seven hours, but two dramamines and Stephanie's lap as a pillow makes it seem significantly shorter. I woke up to a guy with a gun standing outside our bus
Featured Video: Talented young boy This video was taken a
few days earlier, but is a must see! Watch as a boy chases after
our pickup truck and keeps a tire spinning the whole time using a stick!
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